Redemption
by arienai
Summary: Leave the house, take the letter and return home. That was Ryou's plan for the day. As if things ever went his way...


**Written for yugioh_contest at livejournal. The prompt was: Impulse**

* * *

Bakura Ryou was walking along the road on a sunny day and he felt-

_Irritated._

Birds were singing on the trees and he grit his teeth in-

_Frustration?_

No, he was angry. He felt-

_Resentful._

His hands were in his coat pockets, and in his right he was crushing a letter.

_The letter._

The reason why he was leaving his house _at all_ on this godforsaken day.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. The sun should not be shining, it should be raining, hard, and there should be wind, strong, ruthless, just like-

_It had been sunny that day too, all those years ago._

He glared at the pavement. It was wrong, _all wrong._

Stopping at a red light, he silently willed it to turn green so that he could keep moving, finish his business and go back home.

Suddenly there was a little girl breezing past him with a delighted cry of:

_"Mother!"_

Then there was the screeching of brakes and a shout of:

_"AYAME!"_

For a moment, everything was still for Bakura Ryou. Then, as his world decided to start moving again, he became aware of several things.

He found that he was sitting on the hard pavement, a small distance away from where he originally stood, and in his arms he held, in a near death grip, the little girl he had just saved from almost certain death.

What?

When had he-? He couldn't remember moving at all.

What had just happened? No, more importantly-

What was he thinking? No, he wasn't thinking anything, at all. He had just acted!

It was-

_An impulse?_

_Instinct?_

_Redemption?_

Forcing the memories away, he blinked harshly to keep the tears in, staring at nothing. Slowly he shifted his blank gaze to the little girls face and he saw-

_Blond hair. Not white. And her eyes weren't-_

"...Oniichan? Are you okay..?"

_ONIICHAN!_

The light had finally turned green and the child's mother came running from the other side of the road, arms reached, a distressed but relieved look on her face.

"Oh, thank you so much for saving my daughter! If you hadn't been there she surely would've been hit!"

_Would've been..._

_AMANE!_

No, no, no! Not now! Why did he-

_Why didn't he-_

_RYOU! Why didn't you save her?!_

_Aren't you her big brother?!_

"A-are you all right young man?"

He couldn't think, he couldn't take this, he couldn't cope!

_HELP ME!_

Amusement.

_"Why, landlord, surely you wouldn't want to just throw away your day off? Those do not happen too often you know."_

_I don't care! Help me! Get me away from here, I don't- I can't-!_

A growl.

_"You should know better than to demand from me landlord..."_

_I'M BEGGING YOU! For once, just-! Please, I'll do anything!_

A sigh.

_"...Fine. But this is going to mean that my rent is paid for now."_

Relieved silence.

Bakura Ryou stood up, and the woman briefly thought that the teenager somehow seemed different from before.

"Excuse me but-"

"What is wrong with you woman!"

She could do nothing but stare. What was this boy-?

"Leaving your daughter unsupervised! It is as if you were hoping that she would get hit by a car!"

She glared at him and her glare was met with a force that made her wince and embrace her child more firmly.

"I most certainly _did not_ leave Ayame without supervision, her big brother was supposed to look after her!"

He narrowed his eyes, moving his attention to the little girl in front of him.

"Child, how old is your brother?"

"Nii..Niichan is twelve.."

The teenager's glare held even more emotion behind it that it had before when he once again stared the monter in the eye.

"Of course! Putting a child in the care of an another child! You're just begging for your children to become mangled corpses on the roadside aren't you!"

Before she had time to respond, the youth was continuing.

"You cannot expect a child to do a parent's job! Do you have any idea how your son would _feel _if something like this happened again and he, being only a child, would be powerless to stop it! Can you even imagine the amount of guilt he would feel for the rest of his _goddamn life?!_"

"I-I didn't-"

The teenager scoffed. "No, of course you didn't. I'll tell you that there is nothing worse than the feeling of powerlessness as the people most important to you are forcefully taken away from your life!"

The woman still managed to look indignant, despite her hidden fear. Was this boy quite sane?

"Look, young man, I don't think you know what-"

"You're talking about. Yes, you would think that. But your opinion is meaningless. _Fool._"

With those parting words, Bakura Ryou, who wasn't really himself at the time, walked away briskly along the road, towards the cemetery, to deliver the letter his landlord had written before moving to more important tasks.


End file.
